FB: American Rivers Conference

[duhawk]

Well, Loras took one on the chin today.  The ordeal started with some promise as the offensive moved the ball early but gave it away twice, with one especially painful fumble in the red-zone.  The overall lack of team speed just kills us. 
Elmhurst looked OK, Loras probably made them look better than they are.  Their QB is a big dude who's fairly quick and the backs they threw out there had good speed as well.  With this Loras team they simply can't turn the ball over and they have to be opportunistic, two things that didn't happen today.

I was hoping for a big IIAC day, but as Gary Dolphin(Loras alum) was ticking off the scores during the hawkeye game, I was resigned that the day would not go our way.  Hopefully UD and Warts can redeem the conference a little tonight.

[notlongago]

A small positive from the Dutch game, the special teams look like they me be a weapon. Kicker is good, punter looked good, returners could help field position.

[DBQ1965]

Loras picks up where they left off.  Lose 36-0 to Elmhurst.  Another 1-9 season very possible thanks to Rockford on the schedule again!

We rested the big guns today, man.  A lot of positives out there today for the DuHawks

I apologize if this is some running joke or something on here, but I gotta say: this was annoying last year and its completely obnoxious this year.

As a retired clergyman (my UD bias not withstanding), I can tell you that the non-theological word for all of loras-crappola that is bull****!

[DBQ1965]

Hey ... for the record, former IIAC member Cornell beat Lawrence University in the season opener today ... 41-30.  The Rams are  now 1-0 in conference play!

[hazzben]

Rough day for Wartburg. I mean, they only managed to score 49 by halftime. I figured they'd hang at least 50 on them in the first half. 

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beat Auggie 39-21  Just like the beginning of last season, the kicking game needs a bit of work.  A blocked extra point, a failed 2 point conversion, a missed field goal, and a missed extra point kept the score a bit closer than the stats showed. 

By the way, Wyatt Hanus seems to be adjusting to life without Michael Zweifel.  23-31-0 288 yards. 

[NewKnightDad]

Since the Knight's didn't play until 7pm last knight I decided to catch a rugby game in Waverly with former Knight Blake Suckow and former Knight NC wrestler John Helgerson playing for Bremer County.  It was John's first game and let me tell you he is going to be a beast when he gets some experience.

Sad to say but the rugby game was more interesting than the football game later in the day.

Not much can be taken from that game as the opponent was to be poilte not well prepared.

A couple of good things I saw from the WB coaching staff was 1. They didn't take the foot off the gas after getting up by a couple of TD's. 2. Danny Steifel is the receivers coach for WB now and he is working closely with the new QB.

What I saw and what I think will be succesful for the Knights are tempered right now but the defense looks legit.  The offense needs work as I thought our running game should have been better.  The new QB is an accurate thrower but I don't think he puts enough zip on the ball.  If they had been playing an IIAC opponent I believe lots of passes would have been batted away or picked as they seemed to float a little.

Coach Willis and crew will work on that this week and get the guys prepared for what will be a much tougher opponent next week in Bethel.

Go Knights!!

[doolittledog]

Rugby game early in the day, tailgating later before an evening game.  Did NKD remember to put sunblock on yesterday, or is he so burnt he will have to take monday off from work???

[notlongago]

Dubuque beat Auggie 39-21  Just like the beginning of last season, the kicking game needs a bit of work.  A blocked extra point, a failed 2 point conversion, a missed field goal, and a missed extra point kept the score a bit closer than the stats showed. 

By the way, Wyatt Hanus seems to be adjusting to life without Michael Zweifel.  23-31-0 288 yards.

Ha...if zweifel were there hanus woulda been 35/43 for 400 and 4 tds....

[doolittledog]

Nicely played, notlongago...nicely played.

After the 1st week of games there were a few suprises as well as some predictable results.

I expected Coe to beat Monmouth, but not with the relative ease with which they took care of the Scots.

I figured Oshkosh (bobo, is that correct sp?) would defeat Central...but not the whuppin that the Dutch suffered.

I'm not suprised Wartburg easily dispatched MacMurray...but 73-0    Wow!!!  I knew from this summer the Knights were a confident bunch, but that result looks like a team and a coaching staff that is playing with conviction that won't let 17 point 2nd half leads at home slip away.  If they can win every game 73-0 they will try to make it happen.

The other games...pretty much what I was expecting. 

[Ghostbuster]

Dubuque beat Auggie 39-21  Just like the beginning of last season, the kicking game needs a bit of work.  A blocked extra point, a failed 2 point conversion, a missed field goal, and a missed extra point kept the score a bit closer than the stats showed. 

By the way, Wyatt Hanus seems to be adjusting to life without Michael Zweifel.  23-31-0 288 yards.

Augustana had no pass defense. Hanus had the opportunity for more, but a had a few big drops by receivers. I thought they had a run D until the 4th quarter, when Dubuque ran the same running play for 5-6 yards a pop. They also didn't tackle very well. This Augustana defense looked woefully similar to last year's in their first game.

Offensively, I thought the Vikings were doing well until the coaching staff switched QB's. The freshman came in, had a quick 3 and out, and everybody just seems out of whack afterwards. Even when they brought the senior back in, it just didn't click. They scored once more on a short field, but they looked pretty tame the rest of the game.

The officiating was bad on both sides. I believe there were 8 personal fouls called in the first half. They just seemed kind of erratic with the whistle out there.

[hazzben]

I believe there were 8 personal fouls called in the first half.

Wow! That's a lot...then again, Miami back in the day could have piled that up all on their own in 1 quarter 

[Outside the Crate]

Wartburg's score should have been 80-0.  Willis got to see lots of his first-year players but they still had to take a knee for four downs at the one-foot line with a minute to go to keep the score at 73.  The yardage differential was 576 to 5, and MacMurray managed just one first down.  I'm astonished by the gap in talent; it's like MacMurray comes from a different division.  Obviously, it will be a different contest next week when Bethel comes to town, but regardless of how bad MacMurray is, Wartburg looked a lot more like a "reloader" than a "rebuilder."  They've got lots of talent.  Could they win it all?
     Some other questions:  Does Augustana lack the talent they've had over the years or is Dubuque that good?  Will Central bounce back from a genuine pasting?  Is Coe really good or is Monmouth hurting after the departure of their quarterback?  Do IIAC teams deserve more respect by the D3 pollsters?  I guess time will tell. 

[doolittledog]

I believe there were 8 personal fouls called in the first half.

Wow! That's a lot...then again, Miami back in the day could have piled that up all on their own in 1 quarter 

There seemed to be a lot of trash talking going on and I think the refs wanted to get on top of the situation before things got ugly.  I think 3 times there were 2 players that kept hitting after the whistle so there would be off-setting penalties.  One time they called facemask.  When I asked my wife how it could be facemask when the QB was tackled around the ankles she told me when the defender got up he grabbed the QBs' facemask and pushed himself up that way.  Some late hit out of bounds stuff and there you go. 

[doolittledog]

Wartburg's score should have been 80-0.  Willis got to see lots of his first-year players but they still had to take a knee for four downs at the one-foot line with a minute to go to keep the score at 73.  The yardage differential was 576 to 5, and MacMurray managed just one first down.  I'm astonished by the gap in talent; it's like MacMurray comes from a different division.  Obviously, it will be a different contest next week when Bethel comes to town, but regardless of how bad MacMurray is, Wartburg looked a lot more like a "reloader" than a "rebuilder."  They've got lots of talent.  Could they win it all?
     Some other questions:  Does Augustana lack the talent they've had over the years or is Dubuque that good?  Will Central bounce back from a genuine pasting?  Is Coe really good or is Monmouth hurting after the departure of their quarterback?  Do IIAC teams deserve more respect by the D3 pollsters?  I guess time will tell.

1 - Wartburg could win it all in the IIAC.  They made a statement this weekend.

2 - A little bit of both.  Auggie isn't the national title contender they were in the late 80's...but they are a decent team.  Dubuque is a deeper team this year.  They were rotating their d-line and LB's throughout the Auggie game, something they weren't doing last season.  While deeper, it looked like equal talent...but talent that should be fresher in the 4th quarter and late in the season that we didn't see last year.

3 - I will be watching Central with some interest next week to see how they respond.  I know they are replacing 9 starters on offense...but the Dutch were overwelmed on both sides of the ball this past weekend.  I did not expect that.

4 - Coe seems to be the real deal.

5 - I think the IIAC has to win back some respect.  The IIAC is kind of an in between league right now.  Not quite an elite league with a team or two making deep runs into the playoffs, but above the majority of D3 conferences.  We seem to beat the teams we should beat, but rarely seem to beat a team we are considered an underdog to.  Especially come playoff time. 

The last few years the IIAC champ hasn't matched up well against the top of the CCIW, MIAC, or WIAC...otherwise, the IIAC stacks up as well or superior to pretty much every other league in our region.